Retro Live 2017 - issue 2
Readers voted for the video game System of the Century - pre 2000 ... choices included consoles and computers. Plus we look at Flight Sims and much more.
Readers voted for the video game System of the Century - pre 2000 ... choices included consoles and computers. Plus we look at Flight Sims and much more.
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SYSTEM OF THE<br />
CENTURY<br />
YOU VOTED!<br />
Video games have<br />
been part of our lives<br />
since the 1970s.<br />
While there were<br />
massive computers<br />
able to play simple games in<br />
the50s and 60s, using vector<br />
displays, it wasn’t until Magnavox<br />
released the Odyssey<br />
in 1972, a system that could<br />
be connected to your TV set,<br />
that we had true home console<br />
gaming. Things really kicked off<br />
when Atari’s Pong was released<br />
on the Odyssey 100 and Atari’s<br />
own home console.<br />
On the computer side we had<br />
Spacewar! in 1961, but you<br />
needed a mainframe to run it.<br />
With the first consoles for<br />
homes released, things then<br />
moved pretty quickly with Fairchild<br />
releasing the VES in ’76<br />
and Atari the 2600. The 2600<br />
became the most popular second<br />
generation console. In<br />
1980, Atari had a conversion<br />
of Space Invaders released on<br />
their 2600 system and families<br />
rushed out to buy systems just<br />
so they could play the highly<br />
addictive game at home.<br />
The 80s came and initially the<br />
outlook for gaming was bright.<br />
A number of companies had<br />
systems for the home and the<br />
number of games to play was<br />
growing, Then the video game<br />
crash of 1983 happened. Too<br />
many low quality games like<br />
E.T flooded the market and<br />
gamers voted with their pockets<br />
and sales slowed with many<br />
companies going bankrupt.<br />
Then Nintendo released their<br />
Famicom in Japan with better<br />
graphics but they were worried<br />
how it would be received in the<br />
U.S after the crash so they released<br />
it as the Nintendo Entertainment<br />
System. It was the<br />
start of things picking up again<br />
for the video game industry.<br />
Sega released their Master<br />
System and while no where<br />
near as popular as the NES, it<br />
did well in the U.S and European<br />
markets. It was now the<br />
[PRE 2000]<br />
mid 80s and computer systems<br />
from Commodore, Atari, Texas<br />
Instruments and the ZX Spectrum<br />
from Sinclair were starting<br />
to appeal to a different type of<br />
customer. One that didn’t mind<br />
a bit of fiddling with loading<br />
cassettes or typing in code.<br />
Tandy also were in the computing<br />
business with their TRS-80<br />
Color. Commodore released<br />
the VIC-20 in 1980 and sold 1<br />
million units by the end of 1982.<br />
Then came the Commodore<br />
64, a brilliant and much loved<br />
system that cost almost $600<br />
U.S on release but dominated<br />
the low end market in computer<br />
sales. In fact it sold around<br />
2 million units per year in the<br />
time from 1983 to 198 and was<br />
considered by some major developers<br />
as the best choice to<br />
develop for due to its’ massive<br />
sales.<br />
The mid 80s saw the release of<br />
some major computer systems<br />
that were a favourite among<br />
gamers. The Commodore Ami-